A prominent Afghan Taliban ideologue, Sheikh Muhammad Umar Jan Akhundzada, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in a mosque in Nawa Kali area of Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, on April 18, reports The Khorasan Diary. Sheikh Muhammad Umar Jan Akhundzada, son of Mullah Bayan, was an Imam in local Mosque in Nawa Kali. He was 50 years old and originally hailed from Zabul province of Afghanistan.
Two more cases of ‘enforced disappearances’ have emerged from the Kech District of Balochistan, The Balochistan Post reported on April 19. Security Forces (SFs) allegedly forcibly disappeared a man named Aziz Shambey during a house raid in Buleda town of Kech District in the night of April 17. Women and children were allegedly severely tortured in the raid by the SF personnel. Similarly, unidentified gunmen detained a civil society leader from Kolwah town of Kech District on April 18. The gunmen abducted Jameel Umar, a social activist and Deputy Convener of the Turbat Civil Society, near Bilour area when he was on his way to Turbat from Kolwah. Local said he was abducted by a government-backed militia (locally known as ‘death squads’).